Ezekiel 44:1-9

The Closed Gate

44:1 Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces east, but it was shut. 44:2 The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut. 44:3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat a sacrificial meal ¹  before the Lord; he will enter by way of the porch of the gate and will go out by the same way.”

44:4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed ²  the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I threw myself face down. 44:5 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, ³  watch closely and listen carefully to ⁴  everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances ⁵  to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary. 44:6 Say to the rebellious, ⁶  to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough of all your abominable practices, O house of Israel! 44:7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate ⁷  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ⁸  have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices. 44:8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners ⁹  to keep charge of my sanctuary for you. 44:9 This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary. ¹⁰ 

[44:3]  ¹ tn Heb “to eat bread.”

[44:4]  ² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[44:5]  ³ tn Heb “set your heart” (so also in the latter part of the verse).

[44:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “Set your mind, look with your eyes, and with your ears hear.”

[44:5]  ⁵ tc The Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum read the plural. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:618.

[44:6]  ⁶ tc The LXX reads “house of rebellion.”

[44:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “to desecrate.”

[44:7]  ⁸ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”

[44:8]  ⁹ tc Instead of an energic nun (ן), the text may have read a third masculine plural suffix ם (mem), “them,” which was confused with ן (nun) in the old script. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:621.

[44:9]  ¹⁰ sn Tobiah, an Ammonite (Neh 13:8), was dismissed from the temple.